Product Description

With Combat Flight Simulator, you can experience that same unsurpassing level of realism and freedom of expandability as the award-winning Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the rush and excitement of WWII air combat over Europe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7656 in Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: 0050813
• Released on: 1999-07-01
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 95
• Format: CD-ROM

Amazon.com Product Description
Playing Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator is the closest you can get to being a World War II fighter pilot. Experience the same level of realism as the award-winning Microsoft Flight Simulator, with the rush and excitement of World War II air combat over Europe. Enlist with the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe, or the U.S. Army Air Force, and choose from eight modeled aircraft, each with its own realistic flight models and accurately detailed cockpits. Then experience the real flight performance of each aircraft as well as the effects damage has specific aircraft systems on each plane.

GameSpot Review
Sirens wail and ack-ack guns begin to pepper the sky with shrapnel blossoms. The drone of aircraft can be heard on the horizon, approaching in droves to your local retailer. What is it? Another onslaught of F22 sims? No. Thankfully, gamers will once again be able to fly in the glory days of air combat, the Second World War. In the next few months a small squadron of titles will be taking off, with Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator the first one off the tarmac.

Initial impressions are highly favorable. There's a range of playing possibilities, including free flight, quick missions, single missions, campaigns, training missions, and multiplayer dogfighting. You can choose from eight single-engine prop fighters to fly: the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire Marks I and IX, ME 109E and 109G, FW 190A-8, P-47D, and P-51D. Filling the sky are numerous other fighters (including favorites like the ME-262), bombers, and even buzz bombs. The sky isn't the only target-rich environment, as the surface is also populated with various targets just waiting to explode in attractive-looking fireballs. All the models look good and are easily recognized as accurate. The terrain is just as attractive as the units. It uses the same system as Flight Simulator, tiled bitmaps with major cities built up of several dozen buildings and notable landmarks (such as the Eiffel Tower). While the terrain looks good and even has elevation in many spots, it does cause a slight loss of frame rate, and let's face it, while in a furball at 10,000 feet the appeal of the ground terrain isn't a factor.

The strongest element of Combat Flight Simulator is the flight experience itself. The vast majority of flight sims usually break their flight models down into two modes: easy or realistic. Some include a third mode to fill the middle ground. Combat Flight Simulator handles flying by a series of options that allow you to tailor piloting to whatever skill level is desired. This is fantastic because no other sim is as accessible to such a wide range of user skill. Do you want something quick and easy like US Navy Fighters? It's possible to play with a series of hotkeys to handle most important functions, including the ability to fly from waypoint to waypoint with a touch of a single key. Maybe you want to break out the Snoopy headgear and immerse yourself into what it must have been like to really pilot a P-47. You can have complete control over every aspect of flying. Why bother with hotkeys for the engine controls when you can individually adjust the throttle, prop, and mixture control? And, since everything is optional, you can mix and match. For example, you could use a hotkey to start the engine instead of fooling with all the controls, but instead of instantly heading to the next waypoint, you actually take the time to fly there. Additionally, there are checklists that you can use for pop-up help, taking you step by step through the processes of flying.

Of course this is a combat simulator, and there's a wide range of options accompanying players once they get into battle. Standard features such as a padlock view and virtual cockpit (which is a tad rough looking) exist, but it's the nonstandard features that really help out. These include a three-dimensional arrow, which directs you to the enemy, the ability to "lock on" and track a target, and a top-down radar view. Realistic? Not in the least. Of course in reality you can simply crane your neck to see your environment, so these options work well in dealing with the constraints of a flat monitor. And remember, these are optional aspects that don't need to be enabled. So far so good, right? Well, yes. The flight sim part of Combat Flight Simulator is excellent. But it's the combat part that falls a little flat.

Quick missions allow you to choose your aircraft, the number and type of enemy, location, and time of day. Strangely there's no option for altitude, which negates the performance of some aircraft (such as the 109, which is a better high-altitude plane). Single missions are scripted affairs ranging from the plausible (attacking a bomber formation) to the imaginative (wreak havoc in an air show). The mission types run the gamut from ground attacks to dogfighting to assassination. The biggest problem is that there seem to be no random elements to the missions, and each unfolds the same way every time. The campaigns included in Combat Flight Simulator (the Battle of Britain and the war over the Reich from '43 on) are the weakest point. The problem? The campaign missions are simply themed single missions that keep track of your overall kills. You can abort, crash, or even kamikaze your plane into your own airfield in the beginning of the mission and still continue to the next mission. While no one enjoys playing the same mission over and over to progress, there's no point in calling this a campaign.

Fighting is fun, especially in huge air battles with dozens of planes twisting and turning, shells shearing off chunks of metal with each impact, and smoke billowing from ruined engines. The AI is competent, but below 300 feet it tends to slam into the ground quite a bit. Computer-controlled planes fly like they should, obeying the laws of physics. Damage to your plane is handled well and feels right. But with the limited number of missions and the fact there are no real surprises (thankfully they don't have a puzzle feeling to them) a good gamer will complete the lot in a couple of weeks. A mission editor should be released soon, though, that will go a long way toward extending play.

But Combat Flight Simulator has a nifty feature that no other combat sim has: the ability to import planes and scenery. When you think about gaming "communities," two immediately come to mind: Quake and Flight Simulator. Quake has become a household name because of the fan support creating endless weapons, maps, and other modifications. Likewise, the Flight Simulator community is huge, with a wide array of new planes, scenery items, and other goodies available on the Net or in your local retailer. Combat Flight Simulator uses the same open architecture, which means that all you need to create your own Luftwaffe is an aviation encyclopedia, Bruce Artwick's Flight Shop for Flight Sim 5, and some free time. Of course scanning the Net for planes is always an option. Importing planes is a snap, taking all of three seconds. The only possible hitch is if the model is significantly altered (such as too many lights).

Without the ability of importing, Combat Flight Simulator would be a rather average flight sim with a lot of potential for the next incarnation. But the wide range of expansion possibilities brings Combat Flight Simulator up a few notches. Of course the support of fans will make or break this title. Without the import community, and if a mission editor is not released, Combat Flight Simulator's scripted missions will grow stale quickly. This is especially true of the campaign system. It seems an anomaly that in an era where most designers are trying to make intelligent dynamic campaigns, the designers of Combat Flight Simulator actually take a backward approach. But there's still a lot to like about Combat Flight Simulator. --Scott R. Krol
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Manufacturer Description
In Combat Flight Simulator, Microsoft uses a proven approach to earning the attention of the gaming crowd. Not only does CFS bring an exciting set of authentic military scenarios to the cyber crowd, it's also an "open system". Now for the first time, CFS add-ons can be used to increase the flexibility and extensibility of this military simulator.

Combat Flight Simulator includes many of the classic aircraft from the European front. But during the early 1940s, there was another war taking place in the Pacific. Pacific Theatre Aircraft is a set of U.S. and Japanese planes that saw battle in the Pacific. It includes 12 authentic planes created especially for CFS by designers Terry Hill and Dennis Wasnich. They look great and they fly great.

And now, for the first time, we are adding new scenery to Combat Flight Simulator. Pacific Theater Aircraft includes authentic Pearl Harbor scenery and the Hawaiian islands, where you can relive air battles from the start of the Pacific war.

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended for Flying Enthusiasts and WWII Buffs
If you just want to shoot planes out of the sky this is not the game for you (but then again maybe flight simulation is not your thing anyway). However, if you want to experience what real fighter combat is like, this game is as real as it gets without leaving the ground. I would have given this game 5 stars, but since it will undoubtedly be purchased by non-flying enthusiasts I gave it 4. Test your flying and combat skills by playing the game online at Microsoft's Gaming Zone against other human players. It's probably not as intense as other action games, but it is definately more challenging. Shooting down an experienced pilot can be a real rush. But be warned. Getting mercilessly shot out of the sky can be extremely frustrating as well. The game also offers several challenging missions and campaigns which can be flown as a fighter with the USAF, RAF, or Luftwaffe. If you just want to play a game, try Quake or HalfLife. If you want to experience Fighter Combat, this is the game you've been waiting for.

It earns its wings, but it isn't an ace.
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator is a combat including variant of the Flight Simulator line. The product plays on the strengths of Microsoft's flight simulation experience but falls down in the attempt to simulate air warfare in which games like Red Baron and companies like Dynamix are far ahead of Microsoft.

The graphics are far in advance of Flight Simulator 98. Although still bitmapped, the photorealistic terrain resolves into hedgerows, farms, and fields. The effect is especially stunning at high altitude. The flying models are just like ones in the civilian flight sim versions. However, since the models are "accurate", you'll find they don't bank and roll in combat like other games' aircraft which can be frustrating.

Unfortunatley, Combat Flight Simulator falls down in the actual mechanics of its combat area. Campaigns are simply collections of about 16 missions which are otherwise totally unrelated. They're simply linked so your pilot garners promotions and medals but there is no continuity. It is wildly simplistic, nowhere near the campaign mode in games such as Red Baron II.

AI combat skills are definatley lacking and the enemy resorts to the tried and true method of ramming into you (obvious when they aren't even firing their guns) to bring you down. Your wingmen aren't much better and will wander around the area of battle, and more often out of it, taking the occasional half-hearted potshot at the enemy. Usually, your wingmen just crash or get shot down, you can't rely on them. Don't worry about having a greedy wingman fly in front of you to steal a kill from you, it doesn't happen in this game. Another huge problem is that the AI seems to love ramming its planes into the ground. I've chased numerous enemy planes only to have them crash into the ground or run into mountains.

However, this game does have one huge advantage over its rivals, its fanbase. Like Microsoft Flight Simulator, there are literally hundreds of files waiting to be downloaded. You can import any Flight Simulator 98 or earlier scenery into the game as well as aircraft. You can bring in jet aircraft to fight with (although you must tweak the weapons a bit because you aren't going to shoot down a Mig29 with an F-15 with .303 machine guns). The expansion capability of the game is enormous.

Basically, hardcore air combat gamers might want to preview this game before they buy it. Fans of Microsoft Flight Simulator will want to get ahold of it as soon as possible. As an add-on that gives you the ability to fight with your aviation creations (both scenery and aircraft), it is an unparalleled product!

Great graphics, not so great campaigns
A good WW II flight sim should contain 4 key elements: Great graphics, great campaigns, realistic flight modeling, and good flight damage modeling. Combat flight simulator gets 2 out of 4. The game has some of the best graphics I have ever seen in a flight sim. The texture mapping on the landscapes is so detailed and sharp that sometimes you'll swear its real. In fact, it looks so realistic that at times the CGI planes look out of place against the more true to life terrain. The cockpits are nicely rendered and the planes look fantastic. When a plane takes damage and begins to stream smoke the effect looks very good.

The flight modeling seems to be pretty accurate. You have three different levels of difficulty with the `Ace' setting giving you the most realistic experience of flying these planes. The planes never seem too difficult to handle but don't fly themselves by any means. I have found myself in several spins that were either difficult to get out of or ended in me ejecting from the plane. Good stuff. But don't let the graphics convince you this is a good game. There are some faults, damage modeling being the biggest problem. While in combat, I have blasted hundreds of rounds at enemy planes and witnessed bursts of debris come off the plane but nothing in terms of the degree of damage is seen - no bullet holes, no charred/burnt sections, no parts of the plane missing. In the intro you can see a couple of planes lose their wings in a blaze of destruction but I have yet to create this same effect in actual gameplay. And, surprisingly, when your own craft is destroyed you get the same stock explosion with obviously simple polygons representing the debris of your plane giving your demise a kind of "canned" feel. These problems detract from the virtual realism you want in a flight sim.

The campaign modes are the least interseting aspect of the game and leave a lot to be desired. I want a sense of "being there" from my sims, outside of combat. I want detailed debriefings after a mission. I want to feel a sense of camaraderie with my fellow virtual pilots. I want to know who made it back and who didn't. I want to see how many kills my squad mates got so I have a benchmark with which to compete. I don't care if the missions are scripted or dynamic so long as they have that feel that really immerses you in a campaign. The campaigns here fall flat.

If you are the kind of flight sim gamer who doesn't care about immersion in a campaign then the graphics alone will not disappoint. There are also some pretty good single mission that are not tied to a campaign but the re-playability value based on the single missions alone probably wouldn't be worth the purchase. There is also a quick mission feature which puts you right in the middle of battle. While this is a pretty good feature you can set the number of opponents in a squad but you can't give yourself any wingmen, so its just you against however many enemy pilots you choose.

If you're into graphics, definitely get this or Jane's WW II fighters. If you want great gameplay and engrossing campaigns go with European Air War. I am hoping for better things from Combat Flight Simulator II - Pacific Theater coming in 4Q 2000.